WA lobster players catch rationalisation wave

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Western Australia's rock lobster processors are going through a
fresh bout of rationalisation in the lead-up to the new catching
season, with profits squeezed by fierce export competition, a
strong Australian dollar and rising costs.

Bluwave, a relative newcomer to the $300 million industry,
confirmed on Friday that it would merge a string of depots and
processing facilities along the coast with a rival exporter, Chris
Peovitis' WA Seafood Exporters, in a bid to cut costs.

Another big player, MG Kailis, has also decided to close its
lobster processing operations in Dongara this season and move its
throughput to the Geraldton facility of James Bowes, of the Craig
Mostyn Group.

And the industry has been further rocked in the past week by the
sudden resignation and departure of industry identity Peter Fraser,
the managing director of Lobster Australia, WA's second-biggest
lobster processor and part of the Kailis & France group.

Geraldton Fisherman's Co-operative, the biggest player, also
confirmed it had - unsuccessfully - negotiated with the Vinci
family, which owns more than a dozen crayfishing boats and its own
processing facility in Fremantle, to supply the co-op.

Bluwave is owned by George Stavrinos, a lobster boat owner and a
big player in the New Zealand fishing industry, and Multiplex Group
director Tim Roberts.

Bluwave emerged as a force in the industry in the past two
seasons after steadily picking up assets, licences and fishermen
suppliers from failed processors including Bluewave Seafoods, the
former Fremantle Fisherman's Co-operative, which collapsed two
years ago.

Mr Stavrinos said Bluwave and WA Seafood Exporters would
continue to compete in sourcing lobster and in selling them to
export customers.